Atttdmattc  sewage-screen bake



May 5, 1925. 1,536,961

H. L. M MLLLAN AUTOMATIC SEWAGE SCREEN RAKE Filed April 28, 1923 Invenior:

Patented May 5, 19 25.

' umTto HENRY L. Mauritian, or CHICAGO, IL'ii'INois.

fAUToivfmT'Io SEWAGE-SCREEN RAKE.

'Applicetion fild-Ajiril 28, 1923. Serial No.-635249.

To all whom it may 001mm.-

Be it known that I; HENRY L. MoMrnLAri,

a citizen of the United ste tesrresiding at Chicago, in the countyof'cook and State of Illinois, have "invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Autonmtic Sewage Screen Rakes, of which the'tollowingisa specilic'zition;

This invention relzite'sto dppztrstus'for automatically removing thefloating and submerged materiel and articles from a flowing stream of'sewa 'e', and while capable oiuse' :tor other purposes is particularlyadepted for freeingstorm sewers, andthe like, from solidineterfialhndarticles which would have a tendency to eventuallyclog the water courseintoiwhich thdsewer'dischanges, or to interfere fwith subsequenttrezitniei'it of the sewage. i i

29 One of the primary?purposes of'this invention is to .providejanapparatus of the character indicated which willbe entirely automatic inits operation, and which will normally. operate continuously; but shouldit accidentally becomecloggjed; no damage to the apparatus will ensue,but the'epparatus will remain idle Until the obstruction has eithercleared itselflor been reinjiwed,

whereupon the operation of the'apperatus will be uutoinatioallyres'uine'd.

Another purposeis to provide an apparatus which will causethe'ruke totravel in a desirable pzith, preferably generally elliptical in shape,so that the rake wi jenter the sewage stream some distance" above or upstream from the screen,"whereupon it will be dragged alongthe floorofthesewer to,- ward the screen, thence upwardly arlong' the screen, atthe uppe1"endof which the 1mterial removed will be dinnped upon &pldtform, whereupon the 'rukew'il l he moved shove the line of thesewage level-in an up; stream direction. to 'the 'p'oi'nt where it isagain lowered. into the streznn. I A further object is .to provide anapparatus in which ell'of thereke moving'zind'opcrating parts will bedis josed"entirely uhwe the sewage level in the'sewer,' so that theywill not be affected byWtrizrtions in the'level or by floating or subn'erged objects in the smv:1g;e,- or damaged b w ntinued' "contest withthe sewz-ig e'or solid riittj matter carried alonghythe sewegm a'ndwillfurthernore be zz'cce'ss'ibl'eztt all ilililS for inspection andrepairs,'1t necessary", withoutdewatr "ing the chamber" in wl'n'ch the aaratus 013- eretesf i Still another object is to firo'v'ideflin'ap vperetus which "will be siniple in constriiction, reliablein operation,and strong, sub

stantial and"durahl e iiruse; v

Other 0131' ects of the intention should i be readily appreciated as theseine heooines hefl ter understood by reference to the -followingdescription, when considered in connection with theaccompanyingdrawing'3 Referring to the drawings:-- 7 Figfll is a.longitudinal seetioner view through a sewer, showingniy invention inside elevation; I Fig. 2 is afragmentary sectionaljview through thesewer screen, showirigthe' "rake in cooperative relation thereto; and}Fig.3 is a deta'il 'of one ofthe Valve "01% crating mechanisms.Referring to thedraWin-gs inore in detail, reference character 5intimatesgenerally a sewer provided wiumn enlarged chzi'inher 6 havingthroughout a portion or it s'length' a floor or ledge 7 above the sewagelevel, upon which the solid matter removed "tram; the sewage isdeposited, end fro'inwhicllit iney be removed throu' shown). 1 c

A screen, indicated generallyby reference character 8; comprising atseries oifphra l lel bars 9 extending in an"inolined direetion from theedge'ofthe ledge 7' to the floor of the. sewer, extends across the sewerto intercept floating or 'subinergejd 'nmteriai or articles carriedalong byfthe sewage-strewn, which flows'in the directionindicetedonthedrawings by the arrows. A heavy rake 11, provided"witlrlpm'iillcl teeth12, adzipt'cd to enter het'ween'the sere'en hers 931s illustrated in isadepted to he inzmipulated to remove 'tl eobjects inter- 'cepte'd by thescreen and deposit thenrupon the ledge? The tines 'of thonkehre' tfon"nected 'by one or niorerods 13,111 d are'inziin t-(unod in spacedrelation by'fiibes, rollerm blocks 14 carried bythe rod hetweenedjecenttines, and these ineinhers, duri n gdhe travel of the rake upwardlyalong" the screen, ride upon'"tl1eupper'edges of the screen hers,absorbing the wear -betweenthe III rake and screen, and limiting theprojection of the rake teeth through the screen between the bars. Itshould be understood that the term rake is employed in a generic sense,and is not restricted to a large tined implement, as illustrated, butcomprehcnds instruments having extremely line teeth or even bristles,such as might be employed in brushes revolving or otherwise for cleaningline screens or other surfaces.

Various means, mechanically, pneumatically, or hydraulically actuated,may be em ployed to manipulate the rake, but I have shown herein, forillustrative purposes, a simple, compact, and ellicient hydraulicapparatus, which will now be described as illustrative of the principlesof my invention.

To the upper end of the rake 11 there is attached one end of a. cable15, and to the other end of the rake at the base of the teeth 12 thereis attached a second cable 16, it being understood, of course, thatthese cables may be divided and each attached to the rake at a pluralityof points, to preclude tipping of the rake, and that the cables may bemade of hemp, or in the form of chains, but preferably are heavy wirecables, as shown.

The apparatus for i'nanipulating these cables is preferably mountedabove the upper floor 17 of the chamber 6, and while the apparatus isshown somewhat diagrammatically, and partially in section, it should bemanifest that it is substantially mounted and supported upon suitable supportmg structures. The motive apparatus 1 by which the cables are ma mpulateu comprises in the present instance a pair of cylinders 18 and 19,in which the pistons 21 and 22 are arranged to reciprocate, resectively. It will be observed that the cylinder 19 is substantiallyone-half the diameter and twice the length of the cylinder 18, althoughobviously other desired relative proportions might be employed. T heouter end of the piston rod 23, connectec with the piston 22, isattached to the cable 1", which is trained over a pulley 24 and a pulleydisposed substantially above the rip-stream end of the desired path oftravel of the rake. The other piston rod 26, connected with the piston21, carries at its outer end a pulley 27, over which the cable 15 istrained, the end of this cable being anchored to a fixed anchor block28. From the pulley 2", the cable 15 passes over a pulley 29, thencedownwardly through the floor 17 and over a second pulley 31, disposedabove and a limited distance downstream from the downstream end of thedesired path of travel of the rake. It should be understood that thepulley 27 carried by the piston rod 26 is used only to permit a shortcylinder 18 to be used instead Of one smaller in diameter andsubstantially twice as long, and that the same expedient may be utilizedin the case of cylinder 19 and piston rod 23 to ai ford the use of ashorter and larger cylind than is herewith shown. Furthermore, pulleys27 and 28 may be used in duplicate, or otherwise, to afford shorterpiston move ment for the same amount of rake travel, or pulley 27 may beomitted and cable attached directly to the piston rod 26.

The pistons 21 and 22 are hydraulimilly actuated to draw in and pay outtheir re spcctive cables by water from a supply pipe 32, connected withany suitable source of water supply under pressure. valve for thecylinder 19 is shown as being of the usual four-way type, although aslide valve or other preferred type of reversing valve might be used,the water supply being furnished thereto through a branch pipe 84f, andthe exhaust being delivered therefrom through a branch to the mainexhaust line 36. Vhen the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 1,water from the branch 34: will be delivered through the valve andthrough the pipe 37 to tlie left hand end of the cylinder, whilesimultaneously the exhaust from the cylinder will be discharged throughthe pipe 38, the valve It contml a:

33 and the branch into the exhaust line.

hen the valve is moved to reverse position. as will be later explained,pipe 38 becomes the supply pipe to the cylinder, and pipe 3? the exhaustpipe therefrom.

Cylinder 18 is provided with av similar control valve 39, adapted toreceive water from the supply pipe 32 through the branch 41. From thevalve the water delivered when the parts are in the position shown inFig. 1, through the pipe 42 to the cylind r. the exhaust therefrom beingdischarged through the pipe 4:3 to the valve 39, and thence through theexhaust branch l -l. into the exhaust line 36. When valve 39 isreversed, pipe becomes the supply pipe for the cylinder and pipe .12conducts the exhaust from the cylinder to the valve.

For the purpose of operating the control valve 39, which controls thedirection o't movement of the piston 21, the piston rod 2;; is providedwith an upwardly extending); actuating finger 15, adapted upon movementtoward the right, viewing Fig. .1, to eneja and swing the arm 46, whichis connected by a link 17 with an arm 48, lxcd on the pro- ]ecting axisof the valve 39. Upon re. movement of the linger this linger directlyengage the army 18 and swing lhi, valve 39 into the position shown inFig. In order that the linger -15 may i-zllv pa.

arm 18 in its movement. toward the right, this arm is equipped at itslower end with a pivoted extention 4-9 (Fig. 3), adapted. as will beapparent from this figure. to permit movement of the finger 45 to theright wire- Ill) out actuati 11;; the arm, but adapted-to be disposed inthepath of movement ofthrs lin ger to the deft-to swing the arn tS in aclockwise di rection upon movement of the finger to gages a pivoted arm53, which, through a link connection 54 with the-arm 59., swings thisarm in the *opposite direction to reverse the valve 33. Obviously, othervalv iarrangements and other means .for" operating the reversing valvesthan: the specific 5 for'm illustrated are. comprehend-ed scopeof myinvent-ion.-'

Assuming the-parts-to bein the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1,it will be ob served that valve/39 is positioned to deliver waterundenpressure-to the cvlinder 18 through the pipe 42, thereby forcingthe pistonLQl .to theliniit of its travelntoward the left. As thefinger'5 1 approached the limit of its travel toward the'left, the arm 52 wasactuated thereby'to reversethe valve 33, so that, as shown in Fig.1,waterunder pressure is just beginning-tobedelivered throughthe pipe.;37to the left-hand end of the cylinder 19.; The?" cable 5 being entirely"paid out, and the cable 16 beingentirely drawn in, the rake 1-1 will besuspended from these cables above the water level in the sewer insubstantially the full line'position sho'wnin Fig. ,1. Asj'the piston 22now n'mvestoward theright, thecable 16 will be paid out, thuslowering-the ralteinto within the the sewage stream at apointconsiderably.

lip-stream from the screen ,8." "The cable .16 will cont nue to bepaidout as'the piston 22 moves toward the 'righhand-when the pistonapproaches the limit of its movement,- finger lfiwill engage the arm &6,swingn 1gthe samev in a conntenclockwise direction ttoreverse the valve39. Water will thereupon .be delivered to the left-hand end of cylinder"18 through the pipe 43. and'exhausted fI'O'llllJllQ cylinder through,the pipe ;42. if Movement of the piston 21 toward {the right willtl-iereupon draw in thecableflf). and since the cable 16 isslack, therake will-be drawn first along the-floor of the sewer to the base of thescreen, and; thenupwardly}along the screen to the upper .end thereof.The rake will be carried above and downstream with respect to theupper'end of the screen before the piston 21 reaches-the'limit of -itsmovement toward the right, and since p'ullev 31 is mounted considerablyto the left "of the screen, the rake, when it'olears the npper end.ofthe'screen, will travel for a limited distance toth-e left along theledge't', so .as to :carry 'the material brought up bythe ralze wellontolt-he "ledge and away from the screen; As the piston. 21"approaches" the :limit of its travchtheifinger 51'will engage I thearm53 and swing the same to .thcright,

of this reverse action, the piston will begin to travel toward the left,thereby exerting through the cable16 a pull uponthe rake '11 toward thepulley 25, which action will 'lift therake above the ledge into theposition shown in dotted-lines in Fig. 1, thereby fre'ein -the rake fromthe material dc iosited on, the ledge. When the piston 22 is movcdashortdistance toward the left, the finger -15 will engage the pivotedextension il-S) of the arm 48 to thereby swing this arm toward the leftand reverse the valve 89, which reverse L actioncauses the piston 21 tobegin to travel toward th left, paying out the cable 15, whilefinger 4-5slips past the end of extension 49 and continues its travel toward theleft. The cable 16 is at the sametim-e being A drawn in, and the raketherefore, suspended by two cables, will be carried from the dotreachedtheir extreme left position, the valve 38 will have been reversed bythe'finger 51. and thecycle of movement of th rake just described willbe repeat-ed. The orbit or path of movement of the-rake head isindicated bypthe dotted orbitwhilethe path .of theupper end of the rakeis indicated by the orbit 56. These orbits are ofcourse illustrativemerely. sincethey will vary in accordance with differences in the lengthof theeables, therelativ speed at which thev are drawn in and paid out,and also with differences in the relative weights of the head and theupper end ofthc rake.

It willbe apparent from thqlforegoing; that therake IlS caused to travelin a generally elliptical orbit, which enables the rake to gathermaterialan d objectsupon the floor of the sewer, andalsothat interceptedbv the screen, and deposit the same upon the ledge 7, clearof the upperend of the screen. Furthermore, the timing: of the cable n'iovemcnts issuch that :the rake is dumped or freed from the material and is returnedup-stremn but entirely clear of the sewage to the desired point whereitis again lowered into the stream. The apparatus for manipulating; therake is disposed entirely clear of the sewage stream, where it isaccessible at all "times for inspection and repairs. andeis not subecttoin ury or damageby heavy articles or materialcarried by theisewage, orby submersion, and the chaniber'in which the 1 thereby reversing thevalve 33. As theresult rake operates does not require dewatering toenable the inspection or repair of any part of the apparatus.Furthu'more, should the rake become clogged by excessively largeobjects, such as floating logs or the like, or should the tines oi therake become ammed in the sewer with material from the sewage, no injuryto the mechanism can result, since the parts will sin'iply remainstationary until the rake, as the result of continued pull thereon,frees itself, or the obstruction has been otherwise removed, or the rakehas been lifted from the screen by manually reversing the valve therebycausing the cable 16 to be drawn in, whereupon the operation of theapparatus will be auton'iatically resumed. The apparatus is entirelyautoi'natic in operation, and will operate for an extended period oftime without supervision or attention.

The details of construction may obviously b untied within wide limitswithout departing from the essence ot the invention, as defined in thefollowing claims.

I claim: 7

1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of asewer, a screen therein, a rake, a. pair of cables attached to the endsof said rake respectively, and means for drawing in and paying out saidcables whereby said rake is caused to move forwardly along the floor ofsaid sewer towards the screen, upwardly along the screen, forwardlybeyond the upper end of said screen, then backwardly above the waterlevel in the sewer to a point remote from the screen and then downwardlyto the floor of said sewer, the movement of the rake being in agenerally elliptical path the major axis of which is substantiallyhorizontal.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination or asewer, a screen therein, a. rake, and means for supporting and movingsaid rake in a substantially horizontal elliptical orbit whereby therake is caused totravel toward the screen along the bottom of the sewer,thence upwardly along the screen, then forwardly beyond the upper end ofthe screen and then rearwardly to a point remote from the screen atwhich point it is lowered to the floor of the sewer.

In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a sewer,a screen therein, a rake, a cable attached to the front end of the rake.a second cable attached to the rear end of the rake, said ralte beingentirely guided in its movements by said ables, and means for actuatingthe cables so as to cause the rake to move along the floor of the sewerto the lower end of the screen, thence upwardly along the screen, thenforwardly beyond the upper end. of the screen and then rcarwardly anddownwardly to the starting point, the path of travel of said rake beingin a substantially horizontal elliptical orbit.

l. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of asewer, a screen therein, a rake, a pair of cables attached to the endsof said rake respectively, pulleys itorwardly and rcarwardly of the pathof travel of the rake over which said cables are respectively trained,and means for drawing in and paying out said cables over the pulleys tocause the rake to travel along the floor of the sewer to the screen,thence upwardl along the screen, thence forwardly beyond the screenwhere the material colected by the rake is dumped, thence rearwardlyabove the water level in the sewer and then dtnvmvardly to the floor ofthe sewer.

5. In an apparatus of the character d.c scribed, the combination of asewer, a screen therein, a rake, and means above the sewage levelincluding a pair of cables attached respectively to the front and rearends of the rake and wholly supporting the rake whereby said rake ismoved upwardly parallel with and in proximity to said screen, thenrearwardly above said sewage level, and then downwardly to the sewerfloor, and then forwardly along said floor to the base of said screen.

6. In an apparatus o1 the character described, the combination of arake, a. plurality of cables attached to said rake at the front and rearends thereof respectively, guiding pulleys for said cables mounted aboveand at each end of the path of travel of said rake, and means forautomatically drawing in and paying out said cables over said pulleys inpredetermined timed relation to thereby cause said rake to travel in agenerally elliptical orbit the major axis of which extends substantiallyhorizontally.

7. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of asewer rake, a plurality of cables attached thereto near the oppositeends thereof and entirely supporting the rake, pulleys over which saidcables are trained, and hydraulic means for automatically manipulating:said cables to cause said rake to travel bodily in a generallyhorizontal orbit.

S. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination ot asewer take, a pair of cables from which'said rake is suspended, a pairof hydraulically actuated pistons to which said cables are respectivelyconnected, and automatic controlling means for causing said pistons toreciprocate in predetermined timed relation to move said rake in agenerally elliptical path.

9. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of asewer ralte, a pair of cables by which said rake is suspended, a pair ofhydraulically operated pistons to which said cables are respectivelyllfi lit)

connected, a control valve for each piston,

pended, a pair of'hydraulically operated pistons to which the cables arerespectively connected, control valves for the respective pistons, andmeans movable with each piston for reversing at a predeterlnin'ed pointin its travel the control valve for the other piston.

11. In an apparatus of the character del scribed, the combination of apair of hydraulically operated pistons, a control valve for. eachpiston, means actuated by each piston for operating the control valvefor the other piston, a sewer rake, and connections between said rakeand said pistons whereby 20 said rake is manipulated.

HENRY L. McMILLA-N.

